The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

Was never involved in communal thought, was its victim: Ex-law college principal after SC relief

AS THE principal of Government New Law College in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district, Inamur Rahman dreamt of modelling the college on the National Law University to “train some of the best judicial officers”.

Then, Madhya Pradesh police booked him in December 2022 for allegedly keeping a “Hinduphobi­c and anti-national book” in the college library. Facing protests from the ABVP, Rahman resigned two years ago.

But in a big relief for Rahman, the Supreme Court Tuesday quashed the FIR. Justice B R Gavai, presiding over a twojudge bench, said the FIR over the book – Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System by Farhat Khan – is an “absurdity”.

Thanking the judiciary for “giving him justice”, Rahman told The Indian Express, “I spent my life teaching students. I was never involved in any communal thought, I became a victim of it. The Supreme Court saved me from such a bad situation. The time I spent at home was a loss for the student community. I was hoping to develop the college on the lines of NLU. Unfortunat­ely, due to politics, I could not.”

Rahman had been the principal of the Government Law College in Dewas for 7 years and the Chairman and Dean in the department of law in Ujjain’s Vikram University and Devi Ahilya Vishwavidy­alaya in Indore for over a decade.

Amid protests by ABVP members, who alleged that the college administra­tion was promoting religious fundamenta­list thoughts, Rahman recommende­d a probe led by a retired district court judge and removed the accused professors from academic work for five days, until the investigat­ion was concluded.

“I had initiated the probe to clear any misunderst­anding. These were teachers with a clean record… students were fond of them. They were scholars. All of them have now left Indore,” Rahman said.

When the probe initiated by Rahman was underway, the police lodged an FIR against Farhat Khan, the book’s publisher Amar Law Publicatio­ns, Rahman, and assistant prof Mirza Mojiz Baig based on a complaint by Lucky Adiwal, a second-semester LLM student of the college. They were booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence) and 295A (malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), among other IPC provisions.

Adiwal’s complaint lodged with the Bhawarkuan police station, Indore, stated that a book titled “Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System written by the one Khan based upon false and baseless facts, intended to harm the public peace; integrity of the nation and religious cordiality.”

“The book is available with library of New Government Law College and the applicant along with co-accused Mirza Moziz Beg is trying to spread hatred through the said book,” it added.

Rahman claimed the book was procured before his tenure which began in 2019. “At the time, I didn’t even know what the book was about. Now we know it was Dr Khan’s book. She was my former student and wrote it based on newspaper reports. She is now undergoing dialysis,” he said.

Regarding the students who protested, Rahman said he believes “most of the Hindu community and students stood with him”. “Some miscreants created that situation… I can say this doesn't bode well for the country’s academic institutio­ns. My family was shocked during the incident. However, I did not receive any threats because of the support,” said Rahman.

Baig said, “There were social consequenc­es because of this case. I am glad the Supreme Court has given us relief.”

Now, with the case a thing of the past, Rahman plans to resume teaching. “I could not apply to any other college as I was suspended. I will now take the SC order with me. Once again, I want to train judicial officers who will serve this country.”